Then the "Dev" branch needs to be copied over, or the docs need updating. This is crazy.

I copied over the dev branch to my user folder (%USER%\Arduino) and now I'm getting a ton of compiler errors. Can't quite tell if the Dev branch is Arduino 1.0.1 or something newer. This is harder than it should be.

No. The dev branch is the latest. It is what it is used on the web wizard.I decided not use the Arduino IDE for mainstream anymore. It is only used for development.The webwizard is what you want to use if you don't want to worry about compile errors.Link for webwizard: we wizardNow, if you are talking about doing library development, then it is another story. You will need the IDE.So, I would suggest just going to webwizard and doing all the compiling and uploading in there.